


Channels

by msmarycrawley



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Opposites Attract
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msmarycrawley/pseuds/msmarycrawley
Summary: Ainsley was trying towork, thank you very much.
Relationships: Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Channels

_The President is working on a solution.....in China......._

Sentence fragments from whichever FOX journalist was talking filtered in and out of Ainsley's consciousness as she attempted to focus on the wall of text in front of her. She tugged on a hangnail absentmindedly, lightly shaking the computer on her lap to keep her legs from falling asleep. Watching TV or listening to music while working usually helped Ainsley relax, but evidently tonight nothing was helping. Ever since she'd been made a partner at the law firm her workload had tripled, and she was still learning how to help run a business while maintaining all of her other responsibilities.

She looked around at the house for a moment, desperate for anything that would catch her attention and take her mind off of what she had to be doing. The living room was as messy as usual, but Sam would probably help clean up when he got home without her asking. He was good like that. Ainsley sighed. She couldn't put this off forever. Rolling her neck, she turned back to the keyboard and slightly turned up the volume of the TV. After what seemed like hours she had finally gotten into a rhythm and started to take notes when she heard the front door open and close.  
notes

"Hey," a familiar voice called out. Sam was back. 

"Hey." Ainsley turned the TV off and replied weakly, not lifting her eyes from the screen. She heard Sam walk behind the couch and lifted her head back. He bent down and kissed her forehead. "What are you working on?" Sam said, resting his chin on her shoulder and looking at the computer with her.

"....Nothing." She kept reading the same sentence over and over. This was about a new client. A big client.

"It doesn't look like nothing," Sam murmured into her hair. Ainsley raised her shoulder up to her chin in reflex, feeling his stubble against her cheek. "Stop! That tickles." Sam laughed and walked around to the front of the couch, settling in beside her and taking a free hand as she continued to scroll with the other. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, which she was thankful for. They both talked so much that it was a welcome break. Sam delicately smoothed the hangnail on her thumb that had been bothering her with his finger and then brought her hand to his lips to kiss. Ainsley smiled slightly and reached out to ruffle his hair. 

"How was work?" She asked. 

"It was fine," Sam huffed, looking down at his tie and removing it as if he just remembered it was there. "I'm gonna go change." "Alright," Ainsley replied, pulling her hand back. "Once I'm done looking this over we can hang out." "Yeah," Sam called over his shoulder as he trudged to their bedroom. She sighed. His interruptions were welcome, but it also meant that it was impossible for her to focus. They hadn't worked together directly in years for a reason. 

When Sam came back into the room wearing pajamas he was exactly as distracting as Ainsley knew he'd be. She was in the middle of reviewing a new financial strategy when he plopped beside her and booped her nose. "You're adorable when you're concentrating," he said, his face very close to hers. "Thanks. Now shut up." Ainsley sniffed, refusing to look at him so he knew she meant business. He was totally checked out for the day. It was so annoying. "Whatever you say." Sam replied, placing an arm around her shoulder. Good. Except not good, because a few minutes later he turned on the TV.

Ainsley wasn't really paying attention but she thought she heard him say "of course," which prompted her to look up and roll her eyes. Right, it was turned to FOX-his absolute favorite. "It's just background noise." She waved her hand nonchalantly. It was true, she wasn't actually listening to what was being spoken about half of the time. "Uh huh," Sam said, his eyes lighting up in amusement. Ainsley turned to face him. "I'm serious." He was still giving her that look. "Ok. Fine!" Sam said, raising his hands up in mock surrender. "Thank you," Ainsley shot back definitively, making it a point to turn back to her screen very dramatically. Sam laughed at her show of defiance but she ignored it. She didn't have time for this.

Sam had always teased her relentlessly for watching FOX news. It wasn't like she _agreed_ with everything that was said, but it was enough fuel to keep him amused in the years that they'd been together. As much as he joked about it, Sam understood that it could get a little isolating for her politically at times and she was grateful for that. Most of their mutual friends were liberals, and Sam didn't get along with her republican friends from back home.

After a few minutes of Sam talking to himself in opposition to whatever was on TV and Ainsley drowning both sources of sound out, she heard voices she didn't recognize in tones that were decidedly different than what she was used to. She looked up to see an unfortunately painfully familiar red logo-CNN. He'd changed the station to CNN. "SAM!" Ainsley raised her voice an octave in protest, mouth open in outrage. Because while, yes, FOX was sometimes background noise, it was still HER background noise. She'd heard opinions at the White House better than what they said on CNN. _Anything_ was better than CNN.

Sam was enjoying this far more than he should. "What? I thought it didn't matter. I'm not bothering you, am I? " He said, his grin slowly spreading. "Sam," Ainsley continued exasperatingly, deliberately tossing her hair in his face and closing her laptop shut. "I could have married a nice Southern man. I could have married a nice Republican Southern man that respected my opinions and my wishes and my choice of TV channel. Do you know that? I don't think I remind you enough." She hated him. He just sat back, remote in hand, satisfied with the reaction he got out of her. "I know. But you didn't." "Yeah, I didn't", Ainsley huffed, the fire extinguished from her voice. She wasn't really angry with him, she was just tired. Sam tried to rub her back playfully but she shoved him off. There was no chance of her getting anything done tonight. _Great._

"Well," Sam cleared his throat. "No CNN. But I'm not watching FOX."

"You don't have to watch anything!" Ainsley shot back. "I was perfectly fine before you came home. You interrupted my whole flow." He didn't have to know that wasn't exactly true.

" _Really?_ " Sam supplied exaggeratingly, sitting up to face her directly. "You were perfectly fine watching your FOX news before I came home and brought my liberal agenda with me." 

"Sam, I told you. I wasn't even WATCHING-" she stopped herself and sank back into the couch, folding her arms. He was totally baiting her. 

"Ainsley."

"What?" She pouted, scratching her elbow.

"You're cute."

Ainsley looked over at her husband and rolled her eyes. "It's my southern charm."

"Indeed it _is,_ " Sam said as he stood up. "I'm getting a snack. Want anything from the kitchen?"

"A knife to stab you with. Stop bothering me."

He chortled. "How about popcorn?" Ainsley mumbled incoherently, pulling a blanket around her shoulders. 

"Popcorn it is." 

Ainsley felt exhaustion tug at her eyelids immediately after Sam left the room. She had no stimulus in front of her to keep her awake. But good things never last, because the next thing she heard was the slam of a bowl which did the trick in waking her right back up again. Ainsley yelped involuntarily. "You just scared the shit out of me, Sam." She said, turning her neck to look at him. "You interrupt me when I'm working and now you wake me up. I hate you."

"You hate me so much you just decided to marry me." Sam refused to be fazed. 

"That was yeaars ago," Ainsley replied, burying her head under the blanket. "Things change."

"That they do." Underneath the blanket fabric, she felt the soft pluck of a kiss where Sam estimated her head was. He was off by a little, but Ainsley gave him points for trying. "Listen, do you want to watch Friends or something until bedtime? I know the channel it's usually on."

Ainsley slowly sat back up and unraveled herself, considering Sam's offer. She didn't like the idea of giving him what he wanted but she was tired and she wanted to cuddle. Friends was nice. Friends was nonpartisan. She glanced over at him and he had this expression on his face... Ainsley brushed the hair out of her eyes. Five years of marriage and it still never failed to amaze her how genuine and caring he could be. "What?" Sam said, looking down at himself. "Nothing..." Ainsley trailed off. _You're cute too._

"Yes," she said carefully, suppressing a smile. "Let's watch Friends or something."

"Great." Sam said definitively, satisfied by his solution. Sam put his arm around his wife and this time she let him.

Ainsley started nodding off a few episodes in. And she could have sworn the fucker knew she wasn't fully asleep yet because she caught him looking at her right before he changed the channel again. The last sound Ainsley heard before falling asleep was the drone of a liberal voice.

_Goddammit._

**Author's Note:**

> I have nothing super important to say here, I just wanted to say hi. This is my first work in the fandom, I have some longer TWW fics planned out but I thought of this one-shot the other day and wanted to get it down. Let me know if you enjoy it! I always wanted these two to become a couple. Also I don't know what time this is set in-maybe around 2012 or so- but in this AU, Trump was never the president because fuck him.


End file.
